Chapter 31
Gabe stared down at Mary as she rode her orgasm, his own need pushing him to the brink of his own ill-timed eruption.
“God, Mary,” he breathed. “Ye’re beautiful.”
Her expression was soft, her eyelids closed, her mouth fallen open on her echoing cry of delight.
Gripping the towel from about his waist, he tugged it off and flung it aside. He could not wait a moment longer to claim her as his own, but damn it, he could not hurt her. Hewouldnot hurt her.
Wrapping his arms around her, he rolled both of them so he lay on his back and she was sprawled across his chest.
“Ride me, Mary.” He shifted her legs so she straddled his hips, his throbbing erection straining eagerly toward the soft skin of her stomach.
She gazed down at him with foggy confusion written across her features.
“Ye set the pace. I donnae wish te hurt ye.” He guided her hips upward and over him, then lifted his hips to show her. “Take me inside ye and move as ye would ride a horse.”
Comprehension dawned and her eyes lit with anticipation. With one hand holding his member, she guided him inside her as she slowly lowered herself atop him.
Gabe hissed a breath as he made the valiant attempt to restrain himself.
He gripped her hips, his fingers digging deeply into her skin as he watched her. She slid slowly downward, taking in a small amount of him at a time, each fraction of an inch a small amount of torture, far more potent and effective than anything he’d endured before.
Finally, she had reached her barrier; there she halted. Gabe’s gaze bored into her warm, grey eyes.
He took a hard swallow. “Tha’ is yer maidenhead.” He could feel a sweat break out across his brow as he held himself back from taking her in wild, frenzied thrusts. He grimaced, “I donnae wish to hurt ye, Mary.”
She leaned forward, pressing her hands to the uninjured part of his chest. “Hush. I give this of my own will. You are not forcing me, Gabriel.”
Her gaze stayed locked with his as she abruptly lowered herself onto him, breaking through the barrier and taking him in to fill her completely. She uttered a small cry of pain and Gabe grimaced again.
She took a deep breath, then hushed him again. “It was scarcely a pinch. I do not know what all the fuss about maidenheads is about.”
He grinned, quick and wide, relief flooding him. “Then ride me, leannan.”
Gabe’s eyes rolled briefly backward as she began slow, learning her pace. The leisurely movements drove him nigh mad with need.
He guided her hips with his hands, gradually increasing her pace until he had her bouncing atop him with greater urgency. Her breasts swung with each movement, her hair falling over her shoulders and around his head, creating an auburn veil of privacy for them both.
He watched her features as she grew closer to finding her pleasure once more, and he held back. It pained him, but he held back, waiting for her to find fulfillment before he did the same.
She was a Goddess. She was a revelation. How could he have gone so many years without taking her?
Her breath came in quick gasps as she sped her pace ever more, and Gabe’s heart hammered against his ribs. Her nails dug into his chest and her head arched back as she cried her delight into the room, her hot sheath squeezing around him with each wave of her pleasure.
His stomach quivered and his ballocks tightened as he let out a hoarse shout of his own and spilled himself inside her.
Replete, Mary dropped forward to lie on his heaving chest. He brought a hand up to stroke her hair, clearing it away from her face, and then twining it around his fingers.
“I donnae ken wha’ te say, Mary. I have ne’er experienced anything akin te tha’ in my life.”
“Mmm,” she hummed sleepily against his chest.
With women he had always been aloof, always holding himself back from fully engaging himself with them. But with Mary… With Mary he felt it all. She evoked a plethora of emotions in him. He revelled in every movement, every sigh, every moan of delight. He felt just how connected two people could be. He now understood why they called itmaking love, because when you’ve found the right woman, it showed one just how much one loved—
He stilled, his eyes growing wide—even with the swelling his injuries caused—and his previously slowing heart rate picking up speed once more.It cannae be!Love?He felt connected to Mary as a friend, certainly, but to love her? It was far too dangerous for him to love. It caused poor judgement and opened one up to attack. Bloody hell, what if she became pregnant with his babe?
His pulse tripped over itself. Yes, he and Mary were both spies and could ordinarily defend themselves but having one’s emotions rule one’s thoughts could be perilous. He could not live with himself if something happened to Mary.
